Bottle closure



United States PatentOfice 2,791,343 fatented May 7, 1957 BOTTLE CLOSURE George T. Franck, Inglewood, Calif.

Application April 9, 1956, Serial No. 577,075

6 Claims. (Cl. 215-82) This invention relates to closure caps and, more particularly, to an improved readily removable, reusable, and effective cap for the mouths of bottles and the like.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved removable closure cap which is able to maintain a tight seal on the mouth of a bottle.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved closure cap which is suitable for effectively sealing bottles and the like containing carbonated beverages.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved closure cap which provides a tight and effective seal and yet is readily removable with a minimum of difficulty.

Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a novel, useful, and improved closure cap which maintains its sealing effectiveness despite its continued use.

These and other objects of the present invention are achieved in a closure cap having a rotatably supported outer cap member which is threadably engaged with an inner sleeve member. The inner sleeve member is prevented from rotating by a base member. The outer cap member is rotatably attached to the base member by a bolt. The sleeve member extends by an offset portion below and between the outer cap member and the base member and has attached to the offset portion a plurality of clamp members. These clamp members are attached by means of a ring to be movable rotatably. In operation, the base member is pushed against the mouth of a bottle. The outer cap member is then rotated. This causes the sleeve member to move upward, pulling the clamp members in under the bead at the opening of the container. The sleeve member then ceases to move upward and the cap member moves downward, whereby it locks tightly in place the clamp members. closure may be controlled by the extent of turning of the outer cap member. In order to remove the cap, all that is necessary is for the cap to be rotated in the opposite direction. Thereupon, the outer cap member moves upwardly and releases the clamp members and then lowers r them. Of course, the base member has attached between it and the top of the bottle a suitable resilient material to afford better sealing and to prevent breakage.

The novel features that are considered characteristic of this invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, both as to its organization and method of operation, as well as additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a view of the embodiment of the invention in position on top of the bottle;

Figure 2 is a cross section of the embodiment of the invention along the lines 2-2 in Figure 1. Figure 2 shows the position of the cap when it is in its closing or engaging position with the bottle top;

Figure 3 is another cross section in the region of the Tightness of lines 22 of Figure 1 and shows the position of the clamping member and the cap when the cap is not in engaging position with the top of the bottle;

Figure 4 is a view in section along the lines 4-4 of Figure 2; and

Figure 5 is a view in section along the lines 55 of Figure 2.

Referring now to the drawings, the embodiment of the invention includes an outer cap member which, as may be readily seen in Figures 2 and 3, has its inner surface threaded at the upper portion 12 and its lower portion 14 flared outward. The outer cap member 10 has a somewhat cup shape, except for a central portion into which a bolt 16 may be threaded. A base member 18 has a section 19 in the form of an inverted pan and extending at right angles therefrom is a cylindrical section 20 having a wall 21 with a hole therein. The bolt 16 passes through the hole in the wall 21. The top of the cylindrical section 20 supports the cap member. A washer 17 helps reduce friction since the cap, including the bolt, are rotated during the process of attaching the cap to or removing it from the top of a bottle.

In the shallow pan of the base member is inserted a flat circular member 22, which consists of either cork or neoprene, or a mixture thereof. This is the member which seals the top of a bottle. A hollow sleeve member 24 has an upper portion 25 which threadably engages the threaded portion of the outer cap member. This sleeve member also has a lower offset portion 26, which extends downward between the outer cap member and the base member. As may be seen in Figures 3 and 4, the base member has ears 30 which extend into slots in the sleeve member. The outside portion of these ears each has a cam surface.

The bottom end of the offset portion of the sleeve member has a slot therein into which a steel wire 32 is inserted. J-shaped clamping members 34 are rotatably supported from this steel wire. These clamping members are positioned underneath the ears of the base member so that the upper inside portion of a clamping member which is on the side toward the bottle will come in contact with the cam surface of the ear of the base member as the sleeve member moves upward, and the lower end of the clamping member is thus urged inward. The flared lower portion 14 of the cap member clears the clamping members and does not interfere with their operation. The inner cammed surface of the clamping member and the suspension of the clamping member are such that the clamping member at-all times bears firmly against the cammed surface of the base member when the cap moves downward. The lower portion of each clamping member is weighted to employ the force of gravity, which together with the suspension point insures that it is dangling freely and in a proper position for engagement with the top of a bottle and not stuck in a position to block its use. The steel wire is kept in place by means of pins 36 which are driven through the offset extension of the sleeve. These pins are driven in on either side of a clamping member underneath the wire so that it is kept in place. It will be appreciated that this is only one of many ways for keeping the wire in place. It may be staked, or the short inside end of the slot may be peened over, or support lugs may be provided at this end.

In operation, the bottle cap, which is the embodiment of this invention, is pushed against the mouth of a bottle to be closed. Thus, the neoprene stopper portion 20 is engaged with the top of the bottle and the appearance of the cap is as shown in Figure 3. The outer cap portion 10 is then rotated in one direction, and since the base member is held pressed against the top of the bottle the sleeve member is prevented from rotating with the 3 cap member by the ears of the base member. The sleeve member thus moves upward, pulling up the clamp members. These begin to turn inward into clamping position with the bead of the bottle as soon as the top of the clamping members reach the cam surface of the ears. When the clamping members have securely clamped onto the bead, the sleeve upward motion stops and the cap member downward motion commences. When th s happens, the flat circular member 22 is firmly seated on and sealing the mouth of the bottle. The cap member continues downward pulling down on the flat member until a desired degree of tightness of closure has been achieved with the clamping members securely locked. It will be appreciated that different bead sizes and bottle opening sizes may be accommodated by reason of the sleeve motion and the clamping member rotation. When the rotation of the cap member is stopped, the cap and bottle top have the appearance shown in Figure 2. At this time, the clamping members are engaged tightly under the bead of the bottle and firmly against the cammed surface of the base member. The bottle is thus firmly gripped and sealed. In order to remove the bottle cap, it is merely necessary to rotate the cap member less than one-half turn counterclockwise, whereupon the reverse of the operation described above occurs and the clamp members release their grip upon the bead of the bottle and the cap may be removed therefrom.

Accordingly, there has been described and shown hereinabove a novel, useful, removable cap which can firmly grasp a bottle or jar or other vessel having a bead adapted to be grasped thereby and seal it against the loss of the vitality of the contents into the atmosphere. The cap is simply constructed and can be readily applied or withdrawn from bottles having variations in bead and opening sizes and does not deteriorate with use.

I claim:

1. A removable closure cap assembly adapted to seal a container having an opening formed with a bead comprising a base member having a fiat portion adapted to fit over said opening, a cap member having a hollow cup shape and extending over said base member, means rotatably holding said cap member to said base member, a sleeve member having one end threadably engaged with the inner walls of said cap member and the other end offset and extending from between said base member and said cap member, means on said base member to prevent said sleeve member from rotating relative thereto, a plurality of clamp means, and means to pivotally support said clamp means at spaced positions around said offset lower portion of said sleeve member to be urged into clamping engagement with said bead when said cap member is rotated to move downward.

til

2. A removable closure cap assembly adapted to seal a container having an opening formed with a bead comprising a base member having a flat portion adapted to fit over said opening and a cylindrical portion extending at right angles from said flat portion, a cap member having a hollow cup shape, extending over said cylindrical and fiat portions of said base member, and having its inner Walls threaded near the base of said cup, means to rotatably support said .cap member from said cylindrical portion, a. sleeve member having an upper portion and an oifset lower portion extending downward between said base member and said outer cap member, the outer walls of said upper portion being threadably engaged with the threaded inner walls of said cap member, said sleeve member having slots therein opposite said base member, said base member having ears extending therefrom into said slots, a plurality of clamp means adapted to engage said bead, and means to pivotally support each of said plurality of clamp means around said offset lower portion of said sleeve member beneath an .ear of said base member tobe urged into clamping relationship with said head by said ears when said cap member is rotated to move downward.

3. A removable closure cap assembly as recited in claim 2 wherein each of said clamp means is a J-shaped member having a cammedinside surface at its top end and said ears have a back cam surface, the cammed surface of each clamping member is adapted to co-operate with the cammed surface of an ear, and said means to pivotably support, isa metal wire held in a slot in the end of said sleeve member offset lower portion.

4. A removable closure cap as recited in claim 2 wherein the flat portion of said base member is in the form of an inverted shallow pan, and a resilient material fills said shallow pan.

5. A removable closure cap as recited in claim 2 wherein the cylindrical portion of said base member has a wall inside having a hole therethrough, said wall dividing said cylinder into two-parts, and a bolt extends through saidhole and is threaded into said cap member.

6. A removable closure cap assembly as recited in claim 3 wherein the lower portion of each of said clamp means is weighted, and each of said clamp means is pivotally supported at a point along its length to hang freely in a position to engage the bead of a bottle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,091,737 Longway Aug. 31, 1,937 2,390,724 Mays be Dec. 11, 1945 2,444,779 Krasbe-rg July 6, 1948 

